Thoughts For The Day~*~Change ^*^*^*^*^ March 18, 2012

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Change

"Let us never fear needed change. Certainly we have to discriminate between changes for worse and changes for better. But once a need becomes clearly apparent in an individual, in a group, or in AA as a whole, it has long since been found out that we cannot stand still and look the other way.

"Bill W., Box 1980: The AA Grapevine, July 1965 As Bill Sees It, p. 115

Thought to Consider . . .

There is no progress without change.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
CHANGE
Choosing Honesty Allows New Growth Everyday

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*

Independence

Step Three: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

"'If I keep on turning my life and my will over to the care of Something or Somebody else, what will become of me? I'll look like the hole in the doughnut.' This, of course, is the process by which instinct and logic always seek to bolster egotism, and so frustrate spiritual development. The trouble is that this kind of thinking takes no real account of the facts. And the facts seem to be these: The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power, the more independent we actually are. Therefore dependence, as A.A. practices it, is really a means to gaining true independence of the spirit."

1952, AAWS, Inc.; Printed 2005; Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 36 

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
REAL INDEPENDENCE

The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power, the more independent we actually are.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 36

I start with a little willingness to trust God and He causes that willingness to grow.  The more willingness I have, the more trust I gain, and the more trust I gain, the more willingness I have.  My dependence on God grows as my trust in Him grows.  Before I became willing, I depended on myself for all my needs and I was restricted by my incompleteness.  Through my willingness to depend upon my Higher Power, whom I choose to call God, all my needs are provided for by Someone Who knows me better than I know myself - even the needs I may not realize, as well as the ones yet to come.  Only Someone Who knows me that well could bring me to be myself and to help me fill the need in someone else that only I am meant to fill.  There never will be another exactly like me.  And that is real independence.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
R.S.V.P. - Yes or No?

Usually, we do not avoid a place where there is drinking - if we have a legitimate reason for being there. That includes bars, night clubs, dances, receptions, weddings, even plain ordinary parties.
You will note that we made an important qualification. Therefore, ask yourself, "Have I any good social, business, or personal reason for going to this place? Or am I expecting to steal a little vicarious pleasure from the atmosphere?" Then go or stay away, whichever seems better. But be sure you are on solid spiritual ground before you start and that your motive in going is thoroughly good. Do not think of what you will get out of the occasion. Think of what you can bring to it.
If you are shaky, you had better work with another alcoholic instead!

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, pp. 101-102
Copyright 1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could
not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that
either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is or He
isn't."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, We Agnostics, pg. 53~
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

When we alcoholics first come into A.A. and we face the fact that we must spend the rest of our life without liquor, it often seems like an impossibility to us. So A.A. tells us to forget about the future and take it one day at a time. All we really have is now. We have no past time and no future time. As the saying goes: "Yesterday is gone, forget it; tomorrow never comes, don't worry; today is here, get busy." All we have is the present. The past is gone forever and the future never comes. When tomorrow gets Here, it will be today. Am I living one day at a time?

Meditation for the Day

Persistence is necessary if you are to advance in spiritual things. By persistent prayer, persistent, firm, and simple trust, you achieve the treasures of the spirit. By persistent practice, you can eventually obtain joy, peace, assurance, security, health, happiness, and serenity. Nothing is too great, in the spiritual realm, for you to obtain, if you persistently prepare yourself for it.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may persistently carry out my spiritual exercises every day. I pray that I may strive for peace and serenity.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

Thoughts For The Day~*~Prayer ^*^*^*^*^ March 17, 2012

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Prayer

"As the doubter tries the process of prayer,he should begin to add up the results.If he persists, he will surely find more serenity,more tolerance, less fear, and less anger.He will acquire a quiet courage,the kind that isn't tension-ridden.He can look at 'failure' and 'success'for what these really are.Problems and calamity will begin to mean his instruction,instead of his destruction.Wonderful and unaccountable things will start to happen.

"Bill W., Box 1980: The AA Grapevine, June 1958As Bill Sees It, p. 321

Thought to Consider . . .

Trying to pray is praying.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
BS
Before Sobriety

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*

Self-Care

From "To Wives":

"Be determined that your husband's [or other loved one's] drinking is not going to spoil your relations with your children or your friends. They need your companionship and your help. It is possible to have a full and useful life, though your husband continues to drink. We know women who are unafraid, even happy under these conditions. Do not set your heart on reforming your husband. You may be unable to do so, no matter how hard you try."

2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 111

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
MYSTERIOUS WAYS

.  .  .  out of every season of grief or suffering, when the hand of God seemed heavy or even unjust, new lessons for living were learned, new resources of courage were uncovered, and that finally, inescapably, the conviction came that God does "move in a mysterious way His wonders to perform."

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 105

After losing my career, family and health, I remained unconvinced that my way of life needed a second look.  My drinking and other drug use were killing me, but I had never met a recovering person or an A.A.  member.  I thought I was destined to die alone and that I deserved it.  At the peak of my despair, my infant son became critically ill with a rare disease.  Doctors' efforts to help him proved useless.  I redoubled my efforts to block my feelings, but now the alcohol had stopped working.  I was left staring into God's eyes, begging for help.  My introduction to A.A. came within days, through an odd series of coincidences, and I have remained sober ever since.  My son lived and his disease is in remission.  The entire episode convinced me of my powerlessness and the un-manageability of my life.  Today my son and I thank God for His intervention.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Only God Is Unchanging

"Change is the characteristic of all growth. From drinking to sobriety, from dishonesty to honesty, from conflict to serenity, from hate to love, from childish dependence to adult responsibility - all this and infinitely more represent change for the better.
"Such changes are accomplished by a belief in and a practice of sound principles. Here we must needs discard bad or ineffective principles in favor of good ones that work. Even good principles can sometimes be displaced by the discovery of still better ones.
"Only God is unchanging; only He has all the truth there is.

LETTER, 1966
Copyright 1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We
consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to
direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-
pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Under these conditions we
can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God
gave us brains to use. Our thought-life will be placed on a much
higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 86~
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

A.A. also helps us to hang onto sobriety. By having regular meetings so that we can associate with other alcoholics who have come through that same door in the wall, by encouraging us to tell the story of our own sad experiences with alcohol, and by showing us how to help other alcoholics, A.A. keeps us sober. Our attitude toward life changes from one of pride and selfishness to one of humility and gratitude. Am I going to step back through that door in the wall to my old helpless, hopeless, drunken life?

Meditation for the Day

Withdraw into the calm of communion with God. Rest in that calm and peace. When the soul finds its home of rest in God, then it is that real life begins. Only when you are calm and serene can you do good work. Emotional upsets make you useless. The eternal life is calmness and when you enter into that, then you live as an eternal being. Calmness is based on complete trust in God. Nothing in this world can separate you from the love of God.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may wear the world like a loose garment. I pray that I may keep serene at the center of my being.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

Thoughts For The Day~*~Honesty ^*^*^*^*^ March 16, 2012

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Honesty

"Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.

"Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 58

Thought to Consider . . .

Half measures availed us nothing.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
HOW
Honest, Open-minded and Willing

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*

Greater Strength

From "Letting go of old ideas:"

"It is now well established that willpower all by
itself is about as effective a cure for alcohol
addiction as it is for cancer....Most of us tried
going it alone, hoping either to control our drinking
or to stop, and we had no lasting success in either
endeavor.
"But we finally asked ourselves: Wouldn't it be
more intelligent to seek out and tap a strength
greater than our own than to persist in our futile
solo efforts...?"

 

c. 1998, Living Sober, page 73

 

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
AS WE UNDERSTAND HIM

My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea . . . "Why don't you choose your own conception of God?" That statement hit me hard.  It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years.  I stood in the sunlight at last. It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself.  Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 12

I remember the times I looked up into the sky and reflected on who started it all, and how.  When I came to A.A., an understanding of some description of the spiritual dimension became a necessary adjunct to a stable sobriety.  After reading a variety of versions, including the scientific, of a great explosion, I went for simplicity and made the God of my understanding the Great Power that made the explosion possible.  With the vastness of the universe under His command, He would, no doubt, be able to guide my thinking and actions if I was prepared to accept His guidance.  But I could not expect help if I turned my back on that help and went my own way.  I became willing to believe and I have had 26 years of stable and satisfying sobriety.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Losing Financial Fears

When a job still looked like a mere means of getting money rather than an opportunity for service, when the acquisition of money for financial independence looked more important than a right dependence upon God, we were the victims of unreasonable fears. And these were fears which would make a serene and useful existence, at any financial level, quite impossible.
But as time passed we found that with the help of A.A.'s Twelve Steps we could lose those fears, no matter what our material prospects were. We could cheerfully perform humble labor without worrying about tomorrow. If our circumstances happened to be good, we no longer dreaded a change for the worse, for we had learned that these troubles could be turned into great values, for ourselves and for others.

TWELVE AND TWELVE, pp. 121-122
Copyright 1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"At a certain point in the drinking of every alcoholic, he passes
into a state where the most powerful desire to stop drinking is of
absolutely no avail. This tragic situation has already arrived in
practically every case long before it is suspected."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, There Is A Solution, pg. 24~

*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

Before we decide to quit drinking, most of us have to come up against a blank wall. We see that we're licked, that we have to quit. But we don't know which way to turn for help. There seems to be no door in that blank wall. A.A. opens the door that leads to sobriety. By encouraging us to honestly admit that we're alcoholics and to realize that we can't take even one drink, and by showing us which way to turn for help, A.A. opens the door in that blank wall. Have I gone through that door to sobriety?

Meditation for the Day

I must have a singleness of purpose to do my part in God's work. I must not let material distractions interfere with my job of improving personal relationships. It is easy to become distracted by material affairs, so that I lose my singleness of purpose. I do not have time to be concerned about the multifarious concerns of the world. I must concentrate and specialize on what I can do best.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may not become distracted by material affairs. I pray that I may concentrate on doing what I can do best.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

Thoughts For The Day~*~Procrastination ^*^*^*^*^ March 15, 2012

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Procrastination

"After a preliminary trial at making amends, we may enjoy such a sense of relief that we conclude our task is finished. We will want to rest on our laurels. The temptation to skip the more humiliating and dreaded meetings that still remain may be great. We may just procrastinate, telling ourselves the time is not yet, when in reality we have already passed up many a fine chance to right a serious wrong. Let's not talk prudence while practicing evasion.

"Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 85

Thought to Consider . . .

Procrastination is really sloth in five syllables.

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 67

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
ISM
I Sponsor Myself

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*

Generosity

From "Thousands of 'Founders:'"

 

"A.A. was not invented!  Its basics were brought to us through the experience and wisdom of many great friends.  We simply borrowed and adapted their ideas."Thankfully, we have accepted the devoted services
of many nonalcoholics.  We owe our very lives to the men and women of medicine and religion.  And, speaking
for Dr. Bob and myself, I gratefully declare that had it not been for our wives, Anne and Lois, neither of us
could have lived to see A.A.'s beginning."

 

c. 1967, As Bill Sees It, page 67

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
THE GOD IDEA

When we saw others solve their problems by a simple reliance upon the Spirit of the Universe, we had to stop doubting the power of God.  Our ideas did not work But the God idea did.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 52

Like a blind man gradually being restored to sight, I slowly groped my way to the Third Step.  Having realized that only a Power greater than myself could rescue me from the hopeless abyss I was in, I knew that this was a Power that I had to grasp, and that it would be my anchor in the midst of a sea of woes.  Even though my faith at that time was minuscule, it was big enough to make me see that it was time for me to discard my reliance on my prideful ego and replace it with the steadying strength that could only come from a Power far greater than myself.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Breach the Walls of Ego

People who are driven by pride of self unconsciously blind themselves to their liabilities. Newcomers of this sort scarcely need comforting. The problem is to help them discover a chink in the walls their ego has built, through which the light of reason can shine.

<<<>>>

The attainment of greater humility is the foundation principle of each of A.A.'s Twelve Steps. For without some degree of humility, no alcoholic can stay sober at all.
Nearly all A.A.'s have found, too, that unless they develop much more of this precious quality than may be required just for sobriety, they still haven't much chance of becoming truly happy. Without it, they cannot live to much useful purpose, or, in adversity, be able to summon the faith that can meet any emergency.

TWELVE AND TWELVE - 1. p. 46 - 2. p. 70
Copyright 1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"Although financial recovery is on the way for many of us, we found
we could not place money first. For us, material well-being always
followed spiritual progress; it never preceded."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 127~
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

We alcoholics were on a merry-go-round, going round and round, and we couldn't get off. That merry-go-round is a kind of hell on earth. In A.A. I got off that merry-go-round by learning to stay sober. I pray to my Higher Power every morning to help me to keep sober. And I get the strength from that Power to do what I could never do with my own strength. I do not doubt the existence of that Power. We're not speaking into a vacuum when we pray. That Power is there, if we will use it. Am I off the merry-go-round of drinking for good?

Meditation for the Day

I must remember that in spiritual matters I am only an instrument. It is not mine to decide how or when I am to act. God plans all spiritual matters. It is up to me to make myself fit to do God's work. All that hinders my spiritual activity must be eliminated. I can depend on God for all the strength I need to overcome those faults that are blocks. I must keep myself fit, so that God can use me as a channel for His spirit.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that my selfishness may not hinder my progress in spiritual matters. I pray that I may be a good instrument for God to work with.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012